Walter season 1
by Smashfan
Summary: Based upon the short comic by Shencomix, Waluigi realizes that he doesn't want to be Waluigi anymore and sets out to reinvent himself as Walter. In a style much like a hipster romcom, Walter is a series planned to be a sardonic look at life in the Mushroom Kingdom. It seeks to have fun with the way the Mario world works and mix in a light hearted story of reinvention.


"Walter"

He stared at himself in the mirror. Everything that had ever worried him seemed to click in that moment. No longer was he Walugi, the lanky and ill-inspired culprit of multiple bomb threats (which he somehow never really got the blame for) he actually looked like someone he wanted to be. He had cleaned his face up, taken off that ridiculous hat, and spent more than five minutes grooming himself. And after all of that, he felt a small smile creep onto his face. He didn't look half bad.

"I guess-"he coughed up some phlegm that had been bothering him for a while and finally lost the nasal-ness in his voice "I guess I'll give this a shot."

That night, Walter spent some time cleaning up his space. He swept his side of the room, straightened out some things in the kitchen, and set about dusting up the fireplace. Maybe he would use that thing this Winter, instead of letting Wario tell him not to, just to save money on firewood.

Wait, Wario. Walter picked up a picture of them that was on the mantle. There they were, running away from the police after stealing some candy from a baby. The baby was also in pursuit, and it seemed like a great time to snap a selfie of them. Wario looked so happy with that big dumb lollipop in his mouth, while Walter just wanted to see him happy at that time. It was a great moment.

Wario was off on a business trip. Captain Syrup had collected him by way of kidnapping so that he would help her nab some jewel somewhere off the coast of Sarasaland. Usually this left Walter alone to his own devices,, time he would spend perfecting his tennis game or making some bombs for a scheme. Walter couldn't help but wonder what Wario would think about this.

It wasn't like he was much different, right? He still liked pyrotechnics, loved eating garlic, and still considered himself the number one fan of the local tennis league, the Mushroom Kingdom Snatchers. He just wanted to start enjoying those things at his own pace, was that so bad? Walter sat the picture down and moved to his chair in the center of the living room. He clicked on the TV, hoping to calm his nerves. But as the local news rattled off details of Mario's latest Peach rescue, Walter was only half paying attention. His mind consumed in perilous what ifs and how comes.

The Peachy Keen Café was a great place to grab a coffee to start the day. The small town vibe in the big Kingdom really delighted its guests, who mostly consisted of busy Toads and Goombas who were in a rush to get to their next job on time. Oftentimes though, amid the tasteful minimalist décor, one would find Mario and Luigi, sipping their favorite teas and enjoying each other's company.

"M-maybe next time, YOU could do the ghost hunting, eh Mario?" Luigi said as he sat his cup down.

"Luigi! No! E. Gadd-a says you're the greatest ghost hunter he's ever seen-a!" Mario said. He never had tea as good as this anywhere else.

"I don't know why he wants ME to do it all the time!"

"Maybe it's because you're brave?"

"No, it can't be that."

"Listen, Luigi, now, I'm always the one that ends up a painting when King Boo comes around, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So… if I was the one-a going around-a slurping up all-a these-a ghosts-a-"

"your accent's slipping again."

"-Then where would-a YOU be?"

Luigi took a moment to slurp his tea and mull over what Mario was saying. "Home?"

"Kidnapped!"

Luigi's eyes widened at the realization. "Mamma mia!"

"Exactly. So you do the ghost hunting, and I'll do the painting schtick, and everything-a will be fine." He took a sip of his tea and then muttered, "and then maybe you won't be such a coward."

"What?"

Mario set his cup down. "Look, we all know you're a coward. Maybe this ghost hunting is-a good for you, huh? Maybe it'll make you brave, and then you'll finally let us-a sleep with the lights off."

"You know I can't do that."

"Oh come on! No one's gonna get you in the night or anything."

:How can you say that when we literally know that ghosts and monsters exist! On a daily basis!" Luigi pointed over to a goomba that was walking by. "See! There's one now!"

"Hey Frank." Mario said.

"Hey." Frank replied, and then kept on.

Luigi crossed his arms and snuck his nose in the air. "I think I have every right to be afraid."

"Yeah yeah, sure."

A silence fell. The front bell was heard followed by a Toad greeting whoever walked in. Then, Luigi heard an unfamiliar voice. "Uh hey guys."

Luigi looked to whoever it was standing behind Mario. "Can we help- woah!" He jumped in his chair, causing the table to shake and the teas to spill over.

"Luigi! Mamma-mia, I'll go-a get some napkins." Mario said. He stood to leave, but was confronted by the tall man who was behind him. Mario stepped back and nearly knocked the table himself. He scanned the persons face, which looked familiar but different at the same time. Hazarding a guess, Mario said, "W-Walugi?"

"Yeah. It's-a me. Heh… sorry." Walter grinned sheepishly, "Well, not Walugi per se, um-"

"What happened to your hat? And your hair?" Luigi asked.

"Luigi! That's not- polite!" Mario said, then, "So… what happened to your voice?"

Walter felt his face grow hot. He scratched his head and chuckled. "here uh.. lemme get some napkins."

He did, and by the time he came back Mario was sitting on Luigi's side of the table so that Walter could sit opposite. Both of them looked confused, but uncomfortably supportive. Walter sat down and sopped up the spilled tea.

"So… It's Walter, actually."

"What's Walter?" Mario said, Luigi elbowed him.

"HE'S Walter."

"He's water?"

"No guys. My name is Walter now."

Mario and Luigi blinked a couple of times. "Okay, did Wario put you up to some kind of prank or something?" Mario asked. Walter chuckled a bit.

"No, I just- I had some introspection lately, and I realized that this is what I've always wanted to be."

"Boring?" Luigi asked, Mario elbowed him.

"Come on guys, I'm trying something new." Walter said. He shuffled his feet a bit and began wishing he had ordered a drink, if only to have something to focus on in the awkwardness. "I mean, is it really a bad thing to want to try to be something you feel you should be?"

"Well…" Mario began.

"Mario, you jump into a fursuit every other week and save a princess. Is this really that weird to you?"

Luigi laughed. He pat Mario on the back. "Looks like Walter has some bite to him! Aheheh!" This made Walter smile and ease a bit. Mario shrugged his shoulders. "Okay… Walter," he said, "but I'm not sure if everyone will take to this new side of you."

"It's not new, it's just more apparent."

"New to us then. You're gonna have to tell-a everybody you know."

"We'll have a party!" Luigi said, grinning. "A big celebration at your house for the new you!"

"Woah wait, I don't think that's a good idea." Walter said, a lump forming in his throat.

"Oh come on, everyone loves parties!"

Then Mario clasped his hands together and let a devilish smile appear. "We'll make it a Mario Party!"

Walter gulped. He wasn't sure if that was a good idea. The last Mario Party they had left an unseen amount of damages around the Cloud Kingdom. The Mushroom Kingdom was still paying back taxes for the stars and power-ups, and last he heard the cars used in the last two were still covered in years of red tape involving the amount of lives lost to them and who exactly was responsible. Since everyone was technically driving the cars, no one could be stuck with the lawsuit. With all this in mind, he looked to Mario and offered a trepidatious "uh maybe."

"It won't be large scale, it'll be small. A nice simple 15 turn party. We'll invite everyone! The Princess-a, Toad-"

"Which one?"

"Toad, Yoshi, and even-a Wario!"

Waltr found himself hitting the table, "Wario can't come! He's uh busy."

Mario and Luigi fell silent. Luigi sipped his tea and calmly sat it down. "Maybe we shouldn't have the party. We should let Walter come into his own on his own time, you know?"

"Backing down now? It was-a your idea, Luigi!"

"Well yeah but-"

"No buts! We'll have a party, and everyone will have-a fun, and Walter will get the chance to introduce himself! What do ya say Walter?"

"Uh well… I guess it's not a _bad_ idea." Walter shrugged and stood up. "I-I have to go." He started heading for the front. "Uh, let me know when you guys want to have the party."

"Saturday!" Mario yelped. "Don't worry Walter, we'll take care of everything! Even the guest-a list!"

Walter offered a nod and headed out of the café. Mario waited until he was gone, then turned to Luigi. "Don't-a worry. A Mario Party is all he needs, then he'll be back to bomb-blasting and insult slinging in-a no time!"

Luigi didn't say anything. He just sat back and drank down the rest of his tea.

Walter needed some time alone. He decided to stop by the grocery store and grab some food. It was funny, even though he had plenty of money from his winnings at various tennis tournaments and kart races, he never did pay for food. That was always Wario's way of doing things. Walking in, taking whatever you wanted, and then simply walking out. When he was Waluigi, he followed suit and never gave much thought to doing anything else. But Walter wanted to pay this time. He wanted to be an active member of society. So he went to the local Mushroom Mart and perused the aisles.

When he wasn't running around grabbing everything, the market seemed rather pleasant. Rows and rows of delicious food were accompanied by a nice jazz soundtrack over the loudspeakers Walter found himself humming along to it, a fun little rendition of the music he always heard over the loudspeakers of Mario Circuit. He got a few items, some pasta ingredients, salad mixing. He even got some Taco stuff, a treat he had always wanted to try making himself. When he got up to the register and began placing his items on the conveyor, he felt relieved to be doing something that felt calm. Peaceful.

The attendant at the register was staring at him. She was a Shy-Girl. Mask and all. The only defining trait was the tuft of hair that peeked out from under her purple hood. Walter did his best not to make eye contact for too long and just load the conveyor with his items. Though when the belt clearly wasn't being emptied by the attendant, Walter had to clear his throat.

"ahem, uh hello?"

"Uh, sorry," she said, "shouldn't you be running out the door while cackling at us right about now?"

"You guys knew we did that?"

"Well… yeah." She began bagging the groceries.

"Why did you never stop us?"

"I dunno. Seemed like that was your guys' place in the world."

Walter raised an eyebrow. "Place? What exactly do you know about place?"

"It's how things go. Mario jumps around all happy go lucky and saves the princess, who gets kidnapped by Bowser, who uses underlings like us to chase and attack everybody, who all scream and run around in circles until Mario saves the day." She glared at Walter. "And you guys steal things and compete in tennis matches."

"You mean Wario and me?"

"Yeah. You're Waluigi right?"

"Walter, actually. Hey could you go ahead and start bagging my items, please?"

The Shy-Girl rolled her eyes (as well as she could roll two gaping holes) and proceeded with bagging the groceries. "You're a Shy-Girl right?" Walter said. "Not one of Wart's old minions or a current Bowser recruit?"

"I don't think that's any of your business, Walter."

"Listen, whatever I did in the past, I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't reimburse our paychecks." She threw a package of spaghetti noodles into a bag.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Every time you guys steal something it eats into the stores profit. We can never afford to get raises around here." She tabbed a few things into the register and it responded with a _ding!_ "That'll be 72 coins please."

Walter dug out his 8-coin debit card and slid it into the machine. "Well… you know I could reimburse that. M-maybe-"

"Just pay and go."

Walter blinked. He watched the receipt tick up from the printer and reached out to grab it. The Shy-Girl slapped his hand away and pulled it out herself. "I know you're not used to paying for things, but I'm supposed to grab this and hand it to you." She held it out to him. Walter stared at it for a moment before taking it. He picked up his bags and proceeded to the exit.

"You know" He said, stopping at the sliding door. "There's a party. A Mario Party, being held at my place on Saturday. You could come, if you like."

The Shy-Girl huffed. "A Mario Party? I wouldn't be caught dead at one of those. Mainly because I COULD end up dead at one of those."

Walter smirked. "Well, we've always got plenty of 1-ups to go around. See ya." He walked away, eager to get home and try his hand at cooking something whose main ingredient wasn't garlic.


End file.
